


These are the Moments

by NattheBattz



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, No Spoilers, so if you have not played the game very far you will be fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 19:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5260304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NattheBattz/pseuds/NattheBattz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking back on her life, there are moments that Piper can pinpoint that have shaped who she is, and what she does today. Since traveling with Natalie, there's been quite a few of those moments. These are just a few of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	These are the Moments

**Author's Note:**

> These are the transitions used in this fic:
> 
>  **/** = Time jump
> 
>  **//** =Scene change
> 
> Like I said in the tags, there are no plot spoilers, or even spoilers in general really. This is just something I had to write since I fell in love with Piper as soon as I met her.  
> (Also, any grammatical errors are mine completely.)

"The differences between these worlds are quite notable yes, but not everything is totally different. There was still famine, there was still segregation, and there was still fear. Those things haven't changed much. But now when I go to get a Nuka-Cola, I get irradiated, and cockroaches weren't so bad back then either."

Piper just listens as Natalie rambles about the differences between the two worlds she's lived in while they're taking a break from adding beds to the abandoned houses in Sanctuary. (She said that she would rather have them already built for newcomers, rather than wait for them to be requested.)

"Was it prettier?"

Natalie looks away from the window she had been glancing out of, and Piper wonders if she had been visualizing the world she was speaking of. She bites her lip as her eyebrows dig down over her nose. Piper's been traveling with her long enough to know that this means the other woman is seriously contemplating her response. She's quiet for so long that Piper begins to wonder if she should not have asked that question. _Is it bad etiquette to ask people about the old world that they outlived?_ Piper has never been good at proper etiquette, even with given instructions, so she can only imagine how horrible she must be doing with no sound guidelines to go off of.

"Yes and no," she takes a deep breath as she runs a hand through her bangs, "it was not as barren as it is now, but it was honestly fairly close. Outside the walls of our communities at least, because on the inside, you could be fooled into thinking that everything was okay. Everything inside the walls were shiny, and new, and automatic, and aesthetically pleasing… and lies, honestly. We had pretty much destroyed the earth before everything went to shit. We just, kept… Taking, and taking from the planet, and then the bombs were dropped. You know the rest. Come on, these beds aren't going to build themselves."

Piper doesn't question her any further as they work the day away, and Natalie doesn't mention her old home again. Piper also keeps her mouth shut when she sees Natalie bend down to grab an old picture frame off of the floor of the house when they're getting ready to leave. The photo has long ago rotted away, but that doesn't stop the other woman from running her fingertips gently across the shattered glass. Her jaw clenches, and her throat bobs as she swallows, and Piper looks away to try and give her some privacy without making it obvious. Natalie sets the object on one of the shelves next to the front door, and Piper wonders how well she knew the people that used to live here. The other woman holds the door open for her, and they make their way to her old house in silence.

"Thank you." Piper looks to her left to see her companion staring up at the night sky with tears reflecting the moonlight in her dark brown eyes. She smiles at her.

"Don't mention it Blue. I won't tell everyone what a softy you are." Piper wonders if making a joke is the best way to handle the situation, but she's never been good at these kinds of things. Natalie's chuckle and elbow finding her ribs makes Piper think she made the right call.

 

 **//**

 

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Piper asks as she stands back and watches Natalie try her hand at picking the lock of a door inside an old house they found.

" **Shit**." Natalie hisses as her bobby pin snaps in half. She takes a deep breath and reaches into the pocket on the front of her shirt to retrieve a new one. _Oops_. "College. My best friend Haleigh showed me how to pick locks, because my roommate would always lock me out so that she could have boys stay the night, and I would never remember to bring my key." Piper sees the fond smile that ghosts over her face at the memory. "Should've seen the look on her face the first time I did it. I walked right in while this brute of a man was slipping it to her in a way I would not have guessed she could have bent. God, she was so pissed off at me."

Natalie bites her bottom lip as she continues to turn the screwdriver in her left hand, and she smirks when the lock makes a resounding click, the tumblers having found their homes. "I used to be really good at it, because she kept buying better locks to put on our door, but eventually she stopped locking it altogether, because she knew it was pointless. But, as you can see," she holds up the broken bobby pin as she stands up from her crouched position, "I've gotten a tad bit rusty in the last 200 years." She tosses the evidence of her failure behind her and bends slightly as she dusts off her pants to hide the look on her face.

Piper has noticed that the other woman will sometimes crack jokes that she doesn't find quite as humorous as she likes to let on. She hasn't said anything about it though, because she does the same thing. If she doesn't treat everything like a joke, then she'd have to face the reality and weight of everything going on in her life. If she didn't make shitty jokes, then she wouldn't be a, "successful journalist," she'd be a woman with multiple hits out on her. One of those makes sleeping at night just a tad bit easier. Neither of them say anything as they enter the now unlocked room. There's a sleeping bag with a skeleton on top of it in the far corner. There's a 10mm next to a red toolbox. Piper reaches for it, but it's locked up just as tight as the door leading here was. Natalie pulls the sleeping bag out from under the skeleton, and they both ignore the sounds the bones make against the tile. She then sits on the borrowed bedding, and pats the spot next to her. Piper sits down in the indicated spot and wordlessly hands the toolbox over to the other woman.

She takes out the bobby pin she just used, and begins to work the lock on the box. Her hands steady as a rock, and she has it unlocked in under a minute. Piper scoffs.

"Wish I could be that good at something I'm 'rusty' at." Piper chides, and the woman next to her just smiles.

"How about I teach you how to pick locks too?"

"You offering to be my 'Haleigh' Blue?" The words are out of Piper's mouth before her brain has time to register it, and she instantly wants to reach forward and grab them out of the air between them, and the other woman's silence isn't reassuring in the least. "I'm sorry Blue, I didn't even think, I just said that, and it must bother you to talk-"

"I'd like that." Piper snaps her mouth shut so fast that she almost cleaves her tongue in half, but she's glad she did, because Natalie's words were so soft that she probably would not have caught them if she had kept talking. Piper feels a smile growing on her face before she even has time to really register the words.

"Me too." Natalie nods and ducks her head to the toolbox in her lap, but Piper catches a glimpse of the smile that was on her face before she could hide it. Natalie empties the tool box of the bottled water and pockets the handful of bullets that were in it before closing it. She grabs her bobby pin and re-locks the lock. "I didn't know you could do that to be honest." Piper comments as she tries to hide how nervous she is, because _holy shit_ , she didn't think the other woman meant that they would start right now. Natalie smirks as if she can read Piper's mind, and merely holds out the red box with the bobby pin resting on top of it. About an hour and eight broken bobby pins later, Piper decides that it's in their best interest to leave the lock picking to Natalie. She laughs when Piper tells her of the conclusion she's come to, and it earns her a swat with her hat.

"Just you wait Blue, I'll figure out how to do this, and I'll be the best damned lock pick that you've ever seen." The smile she receives makes Piper doubt how seriously the other woman took her threat. _Whatever, Piper will show her. Then they'll see who's the one laughing_. After Natalie falls asleep, Piper spends hours trying to get the toolbox unlocked.

So, when Natalie wakes up and finds Piper curled up around an open toolbox the next morning, she decides to let the other woman sleep in for a few extra hours. (Although she's tempted to cut it down to one extra hour, because she managed to break ten of her bobby pins throughout the night. Tempted, but not swayed.)

 

**//**

 

"Jesus Blue, was that your shoulder?" Natalie sighs heavily, and Piper can practically see the look she'd have on her face right now, but she can't check to see if she's right since the room they're in is as black as Natalie's hair.

"Yeah. My shoulders and ankles have always popped though. Years of softball made my joints start protesting pretty early on in life. But hey, not bad for over 200 right?" Piper frowns into the darkness, because Natalie's been making those darker jokes more and more often as of late. She knows that something is bothering the other woman, and Piper has tried working up the courage to ask her about it, but she talks herself out of it every time. Because honestly, what wouldn't be bothering her given the circumstances, and what business does she have prying? _Funny that she can pry into everyone else's business without a care, but as soon as she might possibly care about the person she’s questioning, she can't ask_.

"Well, maybe your joints will thank you in the morning since we're sleeping in actual beds tonight instead of on the ground. I don't know about you, but right now, this shit mattress is feeling like a cloud." Piper remarks, trying to think of ways to express her concerns in a subtle manner. The other woman responds with a laugh.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. But we have to head out early tomorrow. Those Raiders won't kill themselves. Unfortunately."

"Blue. We could, y'know, stay here for a few days, if you want. Those Raiders aren't going anywhere, and if they show up while we're here, then it saves us the trip, right?" _Subtlety was never a strong suit of Piper’s_. There's the sound of a bedframe groaning in protest as Natalie rolls over to look in the general direction of where Piper's bed is.

"Do you want to stay? I could always head out by myself if you want to stay. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume you'd want to come with me." It's Piper's turn to sigh into the night.

"Hey, I'm the one who asked to tag along. 'Course I want to go with you. I just… Worry about you is all." Piper has her eyes closed, because even if she can't see the woman lying across the room from her, it's easier to be completely honest when her eyes are closed. Then she can pretend that she's just talking to herself. It's silent for so long that Piper wonders if Natalie's exhaustion finally won out, and the other woman fell asleep.

"What's worrying you about me?" Piper bites her lip, because of course she wouldn't be lucky enough for that stubborn woman to fall asleep. _Piper guesses that it’s now or never_.

"You're just… Pushing yourself so hard Blue. You're taking on everyone's problems, and I love that we're out here making a difference, but… I'm just worried that you're pushing yourself too far, spreading yourself too thin. That's all. I just worry about you Blue, because you obviously don't worry about yourself, so someone's got to." Piper rolls over to face the wall, because that was a whole hell of a lot more honest than she had planned on being with the other woman. Neither of them say anything for the rest of the night, and eventually Piper manages to calm her mind enough to fall asleep.

When she wakes the next morning, she can instantly tell that the sun is a lot higher than it should be, that it is way later than Natalie wanted to head out by. She sits up, and she tells herself that her heart doesn't break a little when she sees Natalie's empty bed. She sighs and gets up, ready to go ask the settlers when the other woman left, and see if she could possibly catch up to her. Those plans are cut short when she exits the building to see Natalie sitting around the campfire with two other people. They're all three talking and laughing, and she catches Natalie's eyes as the other woman glances around, still keeping her bearings, even when she's relaxing. Piper worries that she made the other woman mad with her words last night, but the smile she's given soothes the ache that definitely was not in her heart. Natalie nods ever so subtly at her, and Piper's glad that someone finally listened to her non-written words.

 

 **//**

 

The stars are really something. Piper has tossed the idea around of asking Natalie if they're any different than they used to be. Logically, she knows the answer should be no, but logically, the woman sitting next to her shouldn't be alive. So maybe it'd be worth a shot. She watches as Natalie rotates the stick holding their dinner over the fire. Piper loves watching her cook for some reason. Maybe it's because she herself has no culinary preparation skill whatsoever, or maybe it's because of how serene it makes the other woman. Just like with anything she does, her movements are sure, her eyes are focused, and the outcome of her effort is damn near flawless.

She gives Piper her roasted slab of meat on one of the metal plates that they found earlier this week in an abandoned campsite, and as she begins to tear into the meal she's offered a bottle of whiskey. Piper quirks an eyebrow at her, because for all the weeks they've been travelling together, Piper cannot recall the other woman ever drinking an alcoholic beverage.

"Figured we deserve to cut loose a little. Apparently we've been going pretty hard or something like that, I don't know." She jokes as she shakes the bottle toward the journalist while reaching into her bag for another one with her other hand.

"Yeah, I heard that too. Heard that Natalie character is a real slave driver." Piper replies as she accepts the offered bottle. She doesn't hesitate to pop the cap off and take a swig large enough to cause her throat to tingle.

"Oh, is that a fact? What, you can't keep up with an old woman?" She jokes as she raises her own bottle to her lips. Piper laughs the joke off, but she can't help but debate whether or not she should drink as much as she originally planned to. She doesn't know what kind of drunk Natalie is, and if the way the other woman is going at that bottle is any indication, she's going to find out. _It's never a good idea to have everyone be drunk_.

Forty-five minutes and a bottle a half of whiskey later, and Natalie is officially sauced. She's sitting with her legs in front of her, knees bent, her remaining half a bottle of liquor dangling from her hands since her forearms are propped up on her knees. She's staring into the fire as if it were a terminal she was trying to hack, as if she were searching for something located in the orange flames. Piper is sitting across from her, her legs fully extended out in front of her, propping herself up by leaning back on her hands. She isn't drunk, but she can't deny the warmth that is traveling through her blood due to the alcohol she did consume, and the slight haze over her mind is nice if she's being completely honest.

"Piper."

"Yeah Blue?"

"I think I'm going to be sick." Piper laughs.

"Well, you did chug that shit like it was going to go bad."

"That's not what I mean." Natalie mumbles as she looks up at the sky. Piper waits for her to continue, but she doesn't, and she wonders if her drunken state made her forget they were having a conversation.

"Then what do you mean?" Piper questions, wanting to make sure that the other woman wasn't going to throw up or anything. She doesn't move, or acknowledge her question in any way. Piper watches as the other woman's jaw clenches, and sees her throat bob as she swallows, and then Natalie looks down from the sky, and Piper's mind goes blank because of the obviously unshed tears she can see in the other woman's eyes.

"I saw what caused this Piper. I fucking **saw** the bomb detonate. I **felt** the blast wave as we were being lowered into the vault. I could hear everyone screaming." She stops talking as she takes a deep shuddering breath, and that's the final straw for her apparently, because then she's crying. Piper doesn't even consciously make the decision to get up, before she does and sits back down to pull the other woman into an embrace. Natalie's arms wrap around her neck the same time her legs wrap around her waist. Piper’s only ever held Nat, so she feels as if her movements are jerky as she begins to run her hand up and down her back. She can feel the other woman's tears on her neck.

"They shot him. Piper, they **murdered** him right in front of me, and they took our **baby** , and I had to just fucking watch! I wasn't even ten feet away from them, and I was stuck inside that goddamned cryo chamber, and I **knew** that's what it was! I knew it wasn't a 'decontamination pod,' but I just-" She has to stop talking to catch her breath, her sobs demanding more oxygen, and Piper is telling herself that the stinging of her own eyes has nothing to do with the fact that she's currently holding one of her closest friends as they fall apart, "-wanted Shaun and Nate to be safe, so I didn't question the doctors when they told us to get in. Now they're both gone, and I just can't escape feeling like it's my fault." Natalie's nails are digging into Piper's back as she grips onto her shirt, and Piper makes sure to keep the up-down motion of her own hand consistent and reliably predictable in what she hopes is a soothing matter.

Natalie lets go of Piper's shirt with her right hand, and reaches between them to dig into the pocket of her pants. Piper leans back and sees the glint of a gold wedding band reflecting the firelight. "This is- this is all I have left of either or them. This is all that's left of my family… of my life… of my world." Natalie closes her fist on the ring and places her head back onto the other woman's shoulder where she begins crying with a new vigor. Piper rocks them back and forth until her legs go numb, and then she just lays them both down on Natalie's sleeping bag. She whispers reassurances into the crying woman's ear, and when she finally cries herself to sleep, Piper takes the ring from her hand and slides it into the pant pocket that Natalie took it out of. She tells herself to get up and go get on her own bedding, but she'd be lying if she didn't say that she was perfectly comfortable where she was. Plus, she is legitimately concerned that if she tried to untangle herself from the woman wrapped around her, that she'd wake her. _Ignoring the fact that she drank enough whiskey to probably sleep through a Raider attack_. As Piper is telling herself to get up, she falls asleep.

Piper wakes up first, which is a testament to how much the other woman must've drank, because she always wakes up first, but she won't rub it in her face. But she knows that the other woman would not want to make them late to returning to Sanctuary to check in with Preston. (He tends to get worried when they go too long without checking in, so Natalie tries to check in often.)

"Hey Blue, wanna wake up now?" She asks in as soft a tone as she can manage while gently shaking her companion. The other woman groans and shoves her face against Piper's shoulder. This causes her to laugh, and the movement causes the other woman to groan again.

"Stop moving."

"Stop complaining." 

"Stop being mean."

"Stop wasting the sunlight." Natalie actually cracks an eye open at this remark, and she grimaces as the sun hits her eyes.

"Hungover?" Piper asks, not looking forward to traveling anywhere with a hungover Natalie. She shakes her head.

"Don't get those. I just don't want to get up. Is that bad?" Natalie replies, closing her eyes once again.

"You're telling me, that you drank over an entire bottle and a half of whiskey, and you're not hungover in the slightest? And that depends on the reason you don't want to get up. If it's because I make an awesome pillow, then no, but if it's because you don't want to see Preston today, then I'm afraid he's going to have his feelings slightly hurt when I tell him that's why we were a day late."

"Nope. In that case, let's go with the first one." They both go silent, neither of them really knowing what they could or should say.

"You don't have to get ripped to talk to me about things y'know? For future reference. If you ever want to tell me something that's on your mind. You don't have to tell me anything, but just know that you can. I'll even promise to not put it in the newspaper." Natalie scoffs at the last part, and Piper takes that as a small victory. Natalie pushes herself up off the ground and holds out a hand to help Piper up. They wordlessly pack up their belongings, and they've been walking for about half an hour before one of them breaks the silence.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it Blue."

 

**//**

 

"Hmm, guess they're gone." Piper tries not to sag with relief as she hears the Raider come to this conclusion. Natalie glances behind her from where she's crouched and tilts her head to the side, silently telling Piper to follow her. As they creep forward, Piper almost runs into the woman in front of her with how abruptly she stopped.

"Blue, what's wrong?" Piper whispers as she tightens her grip on her gun. The woman in question doesn't say anything, so Piper leans forward to see over her shoulder. There's a semi-preserved teddy bear laying on the floor looking back at her with lifeless black eyes. Natalie reaches out slowly, as if she could spook the bear by moving too fast. "Um, Blue?" Piper doesn't understand what her friend is doing, and she can hear the Raider's footsteps growing louder as he starts the loop back of his rounds. Natalie gently picks it up, almost reverently, and she thumbs the ear of the bear with the hand holding her gun. It's almost a funny sight, if not for the fact that there's a group of armed psychos waiting to kill them.

"Shaun had a bear just like this one." Natalie doesn't say anything else before she sets the toy on the shelf they're hiding behind, and she doesn't check behind her to make sure Piper is following her before she begins moving forward again. Which is well enough, because if she had looked back, she'd have seen Piper grabbing the bear off of the shelf before following her.

 

 **/**

 

"Hey, knock knock." Piper announces herself as she enters Natalie's house. Once they cleared out the Raiders from that grocery store, they decided to come back to Sanctuary to get some rest and help out the settlers.

"Hey Piper, in here!" Piper heads towards her companion's room, but stops short when she finds the other woman in Shaun's room instead. She's leaning against the wall next to Shaun's old crib, and she's cradling one of the mobile's spaceships in her hand. Piper isn’t sure what to make of the situation, so she just leans against the doorway, waiting for the other woman to speak. Piper is not a patient person by nature, but she's learning that waiting is often the best way to deal with Natalie, that she will open up to her when she's good and ready, and not a moment sooner. "I had to pester Nate for over a year to get him to fix this thing. It broke not even a week after we put it together, and I told him that we should just take it back, but he was not having that at all. He just knew he could fix it… And he did, he fixed it right before it was too late, I didn't even know he had until the day we had to leave everything behind to be honest." A sad smile ghosts over her lips at the mention of her late husband, and Piper wonders, not for the first time what kind of man he was. She wonders what kind of person he'd had to have been to win someone like Natalie over. To win someone who would tell stories of him procrastinating odd jobs over 200 years later. It's cute if Piper is being entirely honest with herself. Natalie sighs heavily and drops her hand down to rest on the railing of the crib as she pushes herself off the wall.

"I keep thinking about the resources that we could scavenge from this thing, is that bad?" Natalie runs her left thumb against the wood, and Piper absentmindedly worries about splinters. But instead of voicing this concern, Piper slowly joins her side by the crib. "He- he has my eyes." Piper hums as she tries to imagine a small baby boy looking up at her with the same dark brown eyes that can range from warm and inviting to cold steel like a predator. She doesn't know what to say, so she just silently brings the stuffed animal out from behind her back and gently places it in the corner of the crib. She glances to her right to try and gauge Natalie's reaction, and is slightly startled by the woman's gaze since it's on her, instead of the bear like she had anticipated. Piper clears her throat.

"It's not my place to tell you what to do with stuff like this, but, I don't think it's bad that you're considering it. We're starting to get more people coming through, and I mean, honestly, we could always build a new crib later on. A bigger one, a better one, yeah?" Piper has to look away as she finishes her sentence, because she's never been good with words that weren't printed out in front of her, and she's scared she's going to say the wrong thing to her friend. Natalie doesn't respond, but she looks away from the other woman and to the bear that she placed there.

"You're absolutely amazing you know that?" Piper's breath catches, because no one has ever told her that in a non-sarcastic tone before.

"Ah shucks Blue, stop, you're gonna make me blush or something." She looks away from the other woman, because suddenly it's really hot in this room, and it can't just be her can it?

"I mean it. I don't know what I'd do without you Piper." Natalie's hand on her shoulder forces Piper to look up from the floor, and she bites her lip upon seeing the tears in Natalie's eyes. She didn't mean to make her cry, but she doesn't think they're bad tears, so maybe it's not a total failure of good intentions.

"I'm here for as long as you want me Blue. Don't have to worry about that." The other woman just smiles and looks back to the bear. Piper looks at the bear as well.

"I know."

"Good."

 

**/**

 

When Piper wakes in the morning, her back both thanking and protesting against her for sleeping on Natalie's couch, she's not surprised to see that the other woman has already left the house. She is surprised however, by seeing that Shaun's crib is no longer in his room, but then she sees the bear sitting on one of the dressers in there. When she walks outside to find Natalie, she runs into Mama Murphy.

"Take care of her kid, because she's too busy taking care of everyone else to." Piper frowns and nods her head in response, wanting to find her friend to check on her. She finally spots her down by the bridge, where she's working on a turret with Preston.

"Hey! Have you eaten yet?" Piper calls out to the duo, and she laughs when Natalie turns to look at her, and she has a smear of oil running down the left side of her face, making the scar that runs through her eyebrow stand out more obviously. The woman in question has the decency to look a little sheepish as she shakes her head. Piper doubles back to the workshop to grab some food for Natalie and Preston. They both thank her before practically inhaling the brahmin she gives them. Piper catches the other woman's eye as Preston goes on about one of the settlements they need to check out, and she raises an eyebrow at her while subtly nodding her head in the direction of Natalie's house. The other woman frowns slightly, but it's replaced by a small smile as she nods her head just once. Then the smile is gone, and her attention is back on Preston. Piper smiles back at her, even if she doesn't quite catch it, because she's thinking that Natalie may be on the right track to emotionally processing everything that's happened recently. But she could also be wrong, because God knows emotions are not her strong suit.

But Preston cracks a joke, and Natalie throws her head back in laughter while grabbing her stomach, and Piper thinks that she may not be entirely wrong. _It does happen occasionally after all_.

 

**//**

 

She drops her bag and all but falls back against the doorframe behind her. She is officially exhausted. They had left Tenpines just before the sun rose, and it had been night for at least four hours now. She reaches up and moans as her back gives a solid pop at the tension. Piper will gladly go clear out Raiders that have the audacity to bully settlers who're just trying to make ends meet, but she just wishes that it wasn't such demanding work.

"Oh my god, really? That's the best news I've heard in awhile! Thank you so much! Without you and Piper and everyone else, I don't know what we'd do." Piper smiles at the relief she can hear in the settler's voice. She pushes herself off of the wall to look outside. Natalie's back is to her, and the settler sees her move, and doesn't hesitate to smile and wave at her. Of course that causes Natalie to turn and look over her shoulder, and she smiles at Piper as well, and after a few seconds she throws in a wink. Piper feels her cheeks flush, and she rolls her eyes at the other woman's antics.

For the past two weeks or so, Piper's noticed that she seems to have developed a small crush on Natalie. She tells herself that's what happens when you travel the Commonwealth while constantly risking your lives, that person being the only constant day in and day out. She's just hoping the feeling goes away soon, but every time she watches Natalie pick a lock, or sees her helping someone just because she wants to, not for any personal gain whatsoever, she worries that this feeling won't just vanish. People like Natalie, people who are good, just for the sake of being good, are so rare nowadays, so Piper doesn't really blame herself too much for developing an admiration for the other woman. She just hopes that Natalie doesn't notice, because she would hate to alienate her only friend just because she can't keep her emotions in check. Crushes are for children, and it will go away in due time, Piper's sure of it.

 

**//**

 

Screams are fairly common in the Commonwealth. Between mutated creatures, psychotic murderous factions, and the harsh environment, there are plenty of reasons for screams to pierce the air on occasion. But this doesn't make waking up to them any easier. Piper's heart is in her throat as she sits up and begins blindly reaching for her weapon. But her mind, currently working in overdrive thanks to the adrenaline flowing through her veins tells her that she doesn't need her gun at the moment. She looks over and sees Natalie shaking and she jumps slightly when the other woman screams out Shaun's name in what looks like a nightmare. Taking a deep, calming breath, Piper crawls over to the sleeping woman and grabs her wrists and uses her weight to pin the other woman's hands to her chest. _This is not the first nightmare the other woman has had, and Piper does not feel like getting decked again, because Natalie has a surprisingly mean right hook_.

"Blue. Hey, come on now. Wake up. It's just a bad dream, come on." Piper says, trying to keep her voice gentle, but loud enough to actually wake the woman while she gently shakes her frame. She starts making shushing noises in between her words, because while she is concerned about her friend's state, she's also concerned about the noise attracting any unwanted visitors to their camp. Natalie sits up without any warning, and Piper almost loses her grip on the woman's wrist as her arm jerks to throw a punch. Her breathing is erratic, and her eyes are frantically trying to take in her surroundings. Piper raises her hands- hoping like hell Natalie doesn't decide to try and hit her again- and gently, yet firmly cups the panicked woman's face in her hands to try and steady her. "Look at me. No, Natalie, just look at me. Ignore everything else. Just focus on me right now. You're alright. It was a dream, that's all. We're here, safe and sound- well, as safe as we can be out here I suppose, but that's not the point. You're okay is my point. I'm right here, and I've got you. Okay? Can you give me a nod to let me know you're getting this?" Natalie's head moves up and down in a jerky nod as she tries to catch her breath.

She raises her right hand to place it over Piper's left one that's still cradling her face, and she slips her fingers between her own. Piper isn't sure what else to say as she feels the other woman run her thumb over the back of her hand, so she decides to wait for Natalie to say something. She's glad she's not holding her breath, because Natalie doesn't say anything at all. She eventually takes Piper's hands away from her face, and lays down with her head resting on Piper's left thigh. She looks up at Piper's face, and Piper just nods, because she knows that that was Natalie's way of asking her if this is okay. Natalie closes her eyes as the other woman begins running her fingertips through her bangs. Piper stares up at the stars for what feels like hours, because she can't go back to sleep because on nights like these, the other woman never has just one bad dream. Natalie's breathing returned to normal a while ago, so she knows that she's finally asleep again.

She looks down and can't help but stare at the other woman's relaxed face. She hardly ever gets to see her with her guard down. Natalie is never relaxed, and honestly, Piper can't really blame her as she tries to put herself in her shoes. If there was anyone in the world who had the weight of it upon their shoulders, it would probably be the woman resting her head on her leg. The woman who is from the world before the bombs. The woman who lost everything, literally everything, all while watching it happen. The woman who was just trying to find her son. The woman who would take days, sometimes even weeks out of her time just to help people of the Commonwealth. The woman who is as selfless as she is fierce. The woman who has held onto Piper like she was a lifeline as she finally allowed herself to cry for the things and people she'd lost. The woman who has nightmares about the things she has no one to confide in, no one who cares enough to listen. But whether or not she truly knows it, there's Piper. Piper vows to herself then and there, under the stars of the Commonwealth, with her left leg going numb, that she will make sure Natalie knows that she is really there for her. Not just for backup in gunfights, but also as backup for anything at all, be it a Radscorpion, a feral ghoul, or the demons that haunt her at every turn, Piper plans on being right there for her.

 

 **//**

 

Natalie is crouched in front of yet another locked door, and by this point Piper has lost count of how many locks she's seen fall to this woman’s skill. She's enraptured every time she watches her work. It's like a routine almost. Natalie will insert her bobby pin into the lock and immediately turn the screwdriver to see whether or not she needs to push the tumblers to either side. If the lock gives, she either smiles in relief, or she frowns as if she's disappointed by the ease in which the lock surrendered. If the lock doesn't give on that initial test however, she begins worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as she steadily twists and turns her tools. The one absolute constant through all of these locks however, is the steadiness of her hands. They never shake, never falter, even if Natalie breaks a bobby pin, the sureness of her hands almost makes it seem like she means to. Piper slightly envies how sure of herself Natalie's body language projects her to be. Whether it is picking a lock, aiming and shooting a gun at who or whatever is trying to kill them, or injecting either herself or Piper with a stimpack, her hands never falter. Piper wonders if her hands would be that steady if they were sliding up the inside of her thighs. _She pretends she did not just think that_. The tumblers sliding home and Natalie's triumphant smile are what breaks Piper's train of thoughts, which is probably a good thing considering the turn they had taken.

"You're getting really good at that Blue. Like, maybe-I-should-start-keeping-a-better-eye-on-you-when-we're-at-my-house good." Piper jests, trying to distract herself. Natalie smirks and shrugs her shoulders in response to the tease.

"Maybe you should just keep a better eye on me in general. It helps my self-esteem." Piper laughs.

"Your self-esteem is fine, what're you talking about?" Natalie pauses her task of rummaging through a filing cabinet along the far wall of the room she granted them entrance to.

"Okay fine, so maybe I just like the idea of you keeping an eye on me." Piper's hands still inside the first-aid kit she was currently raiding.

"Do you?" The room is tensely silent for the next thirty seconds. _Piper counted_.

"Yeah, I do."

"Alright then."

"Alright then."

"Only if you keep an eye on me too though." Piper can't make herself look up from the meager medical supplies in front of her to meet the other woman's eyes, but she can feel them on her without looking.

"I can do that." Piper doesn't say it outright, how she also likes the idea of Natalie keeping an eye on her, but she knows that Natalie knows, and this fact doesn't make her as uncomfortable as she thought it would.

"Sounds nice Blue."

"Yeah, I suppose it does." Neither of them say anything else after that, but that's okay, because Piper keeps catching the other woman trying to steal glances at her, so it makes her feel less bad when she gets caught for the same thing.

 

**//**

 

Piper knows that time doesn't stop. She knows that it is physically not possible for time to stand still, but that doesn't stop her from swearing that in this instance, that's exactly what happens. She's crouched down behind a large rock, trying not to get shot by a lone Gunner when it happens. She's about to peek around the edge of her cover to try and get a shot off, but the sound of a gun going off makes her stay put. Her eyes find Natalie just as the bullet catches the other woman in her right shoulder. Piper isn't sure who's cry she hears as Natalie spins around and crumples to the ground. She doesn't stop to contemplate it though as she steps out from behind her shelter, gun raised, and with more accuracy than she thought she has, she puts a bullet between the Gunner's eyes. She runs the rest of the distance between Natalie and herself, and is surprised to see Natalie sitting up against the wall she had been hiding behind.

"Holy shit Blue, that's a lot of blood." Piper doesn't mean to say that out loud, but she can't help the concern that makes her slightly queasy at the sight of so much of her friend's blood outside out of her body. Natalie just smiles up at her with the smile that Piper has deemed her, "I-know-Piper-is-mad-at-me-but-what-is-she-going-to-do-about-it" smile.

"Yeah, not going to lie, I have certainly felt better." Natalie winces immediately after trying to chuckle at her own joke. Piper wants to pull her hair out, because neither she nor her companion have that self preservation instinct that all other humans seem to possess. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a Stimpack.

"Don't squirm or this is going to hurt worse than it has to."

"Hate to break it to you Pipes, but it's already hurting pretty good, I don't think you can do much worse."

"Don't tempt me." Piper mumbles in response, not really focusing on their conversation anymore as she tries to find exactly where the bullet hit her. She figures she finds it when Natalie inhales sharply between her clenched teeth, and she injects the Stimpack to numb the area. "Can you walk Blue? We gotta find someone who can take that bullet out."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Since we've been travelling together, have I ever once bragged about my medical skills?" Natalie pauses, but then she's smirking, and Piper just knows that her patience is about to be tested.

"No, but there was that one time that you removed that splinter I got when that Synth pushed me through the wall in that old building." Piper resists the urge to punch her in the shoulder.

"What if I nick something important? It's really not worth the risk. So quit your complaining and get up. It's just a little gunshot wound, don't be such a pansy." The journalist stands up from her crouched position and holds her hand out to the woman still sitting on the ground. Piper can see how frustrated her friend is in the clench of her jaw, and the set of her uninjured shoulder. Neither of them had factored getting shot into their schedules, and seeing as Natalie is right handed, this injury is bound to set them back by at least a month. She sees how irritated she is that she can't actually get up by herself as she takes the offered hand between them. She sees how angry she's becoming when they have to slow their pace, so that she does not jostle her arm too much. She sees how she is becoming borderline furious after the doctor they find in the closest settlement removes the bullet and puts her arm in a sling.

"Blue, I know you're mad right now, but I'm just really glad you're not dead right now, so would you mind cheering up just a bit? Your shoulder is going to heal faster than you think. The doctor said that if it had gone just an inch to the left that you would've bled out. So. How about you drop the brooding act, and have a drink with me? Because I'm celebrating that my best friend didn't die today." Piper pops the cap off of a bottle of vodka, and is bringing it to her lips when Natalie grabs it out of her hand with her good arm. Piper is about to grab for the bottle, but the smile Natalie is giving her makes her pause. The woman looks at the bottle of liquor in her hand, and back to Piper and nods her head to herself. She raises the bottle in a toast.

"To our best friends not dying today." She takes a considerably large drink, and Piper wonders if it's because her arm still hurts or not. She takes the bottle as Natalie holds it out for her, and repeats the toast before taking her own drink.

 

**//**

 

"No. No more drugs. You need to sober up, or you're going to kill yourself, and I don't want to see that happen, let alone help you do it." Natalie crosses her arms as she shifts her weight onto one leg, and Piper notes that she only slightly winces at the movement of her shoulder. Natalie's recovery time officially ended about a week ago, and the day she took off the sling, they began the journey back to Sanctuary. Upon their return less than twenty minutes ago though, Mama Murphy asked Natalie for some Mentats. Thus, leading to this conversation that Piper is currently standing on the sidelines for.

Mama Murphy argues that they're all going to die either way, so if the drugs kill her, then at least she can help out by giving everyone the edge of The Sight. Natalie shakes her head and tells her that the community values her without her chemical induced sight, and that she needs to stay clean for herself as well as for everyone else, because no one wants her dead. Piper watches as the old woman sighs heavily, just as she herself has done countless times because of Natalie, and she wonders if Natalie bends everyone to her will naturally, or if she just learned how to say the right things to people to get them to do what she wants them to. (Piper has cleaned far more animals than she anticipated she ever would, all because Natalie could talk her into it nine out of ten times.)

"Fine kid. I'll get and stay clean." Mama Murphy stands up from her chair and walks off, leaving just the two of them in the workshop. Piper watches as the older woman walks away, and she doesn't realize she's biting the inside of her lip until she tastes blood. She remembers how her mother was never around when she was younger, because she was too busy getting high. She never had enough time for her or for Nat. How many times had she wished for someone like Natalie to come into her mother's life to get her on the right track? Piper doesn't say anything as she turns to look at Natalie and finds her looking back at her as well.

"You alright Pipes?" Natalie's right hand twitches at her side, as if she wants to raise it towards her friend, but rethinks the action. Piper nods her head and steps forward to pull the other woman into a hug. She can count on one hand the number of times they've hugged, so it's not really a surprise when it takes Natalie a hesitant second to wrap her own arms around her. Piper cannot put it into words. She can't say how she wishes that Natalie could have met her mother, that maybe she could have succeeded where Piper failed her. She can't say how even though she's sad her mother didn't get to meet her, how extremely glad she is that she got to meet her personally. That she gets to call her her best friend. She can't put into words how she's so thankful that Natalie is in her life. So she just has to hope that a fraction of what she's feeling is being conveyed to the other woman via this impromptu hug.

"You're alright Pipes. I've got you." Piper tightens her grip, but only slightly, not wanting to hurt Natalie's still tender shoulder.

"I know. Thank you Blue."

"Don't mention it." Piper doesn't have the words to tell her that she won't mention it. That she doesn't want to mention it. She doesn't have the words to tell her that there's something almost… intimate about knowing this side of her, when no one else gets to see it. Everyone who talks to Natalie would probably say that she is level-headed, smart, sarcastic, and quiet. While all of these things are undoubtedly true, there's also so much more to the woman currently holding her, but she's the only one who knows that. There's something sacred about that, and maybe it's selfish of her, but no, she does not plan on mentioning Natalie's softer sides to anyone at all. Because they're all hers.

 

 **//**

 

"We're hosting a party tonight." Piper quirks an eyebrow at her friend in a silent question. _And why the hell would we do that_?

"We literally just got back today, what happened to a little 'R and R' Blue?" Piper had to beg the other woman for just over an hour to get her to agree to take the rest of the day off when they got back to Sanctuary, since they've been on the road for so long.

"Preston told me that it would boost morale since it's been so long since we've been here." Natalie shrugs, and Piper groans. She never anticipated that taking care of so many settlements would be such a full time job, even when there wasn't an actual job to be done.

"I suppose that we'll be providing the drinks as well?"

"Oh yeah."

"Shit Blue, you're killing me." Natalie just smiles at her, and Piper flips her off. (Natalie had told her awhile back that she secretly loved that that hand sign had managed to survive the end of the world, so Piper would occasionally demonstrate how alive and well it was for her.) "I'm not putting out the good shit we've stockpiled, and you can't make me."

"Wouldn't dream of it Pipes."

 

**/**

 

Everyone is laughing and drinking, and maybe Preston had been right about this being a good idea. Piper has heard multiple people thank Natalie (and of course herself too) for turning Sanctuary into just that, an actual sanctuary in the Commonwealth. They keep saying how the days ahead are looking so much better than the days they've all faced. Piper almost chokes on her water when she catches Jun Long smiling, and it makes her smile as well because things must be looking really good for him to be doing such a thing. Everyone is celebrating, and telling every funny story they can think to share, but Piper cannot bring herself to get too involved with the whole thing. Because Natalie is distracting her with the fake smile she's putting on for everyone. Piper's spent far too much time with the other woman to fall for any act she tries to put on, and she can't help but be worried about her friend.

"As fun as this has been, I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to go ahead and get some rest. You can all just stay here if you want to, but if any of you throw up in here, I'm going to kill you. There's also the guest room if you want." Natalie finishes her fourth drink- not that Piper has been keeping count- as she stands up to walk over to the trashcan to throw away her now empty bottle. Piper tries not to dwell on the fact that Shaun's room is now the, "guest room," but it feels slightly wrong to her. Everyone calls out a goodnight, and a final round of thanks. Piper waits for as long as she can- she figures sixty seconds is fine- before getting up to follow her friend. She knocks on her bedroom door before just walking in anyway.

Natalie's sitting on the edge of her bed, elbows resting on her knees with her back bowed so that she's looking at the floor with her hands clasped in front of her head. Piper doesn't want to pry, knowing that that isn't the best way to handle the woman sitting in front of her, so she doesn't say anything as she closes the door behind her to go and sit next to her. She wraps her arm around the silent woman, and she almost smiles when she feels her lean her body into hers.

"You wanna go to sleep?" Piper asks, rubbing her hand up and down the other woman's arm. Natalie looks up from the floor and looks into her eyes. She doesn't look around, and it honestly makes Piper want to squirm, but she forces herself to hold the gaze. Natalie nods her head after a few moments and breaks her stare to reach down to begin unlacing her shoes. Piper takes it as her cue to do the same. Neither of them say anything else as they both change into sleep clothes and climb into Natalie's bed. Natalie's nightmares have progressively gotten worse over the last few weeks the closer they get to finding Shaun, and Piper's sure that the ungodly things that she's had to see and do surely aren't helping with the dreams at all. They discovered, that on the nights that Natalie falls asleep while being held by Piper, she doesn’t wake up screaming, so they've been sharing a bed for the past two weeks. (There was no discussion had about the change in sleeping arrangements, and both women are fine with that.)

Natalie's head is resting on Piper's left shoulder, and Piper said she wouldn't pry, but she can smell the alcohol on her friend, and she knows that she only drinks excessively when something is bothering her, and she can practically hear the other woman thinking right now. "What's wrong Blue?" And to the credit of how much they've bonded over these past few months, Natalie only hesitates a moment before responding.

"I'm just scared Piper. I mean, I keep thinking about how I have these two separate lives, the one before the vault, and now this one, and… I'm over two hundred years old, and I feel like I'm going on a wild goose chase for Shaun, but I can't stop, because I know I'll find him. I'm just, almost scared that when I do find him, that everything will change. I don't know how to word it, I'm sorry. It's just, I mean, Shaun and I are from a completely different world than this one, and I really like the life I've managed to build here, with all of you, but I do not know how I'm going to raise him in this world. Piper, I didn't even know how I was going to raise him in my world, and this one is so much harsher, and Nate isn't here to help me like he's supposed to be." Natalie stops talking to take a deep breath, and that's when she starts crying. Piper doesn’t say anything, but she does start to run her hand up and down the other woman's back to try and show her that she's here for her.

"Nate isn’t here, and I can't remember what his voice sounded like, but I remember exactly how he fell back when they shot him, and I can remember exactly how his corpse looked, still frozen in his pod. But each day that passes by, I don't miss him as much, or maybe I'm just getting better at managing it, I don't know, but some days I completely forget to think of him, and that makes me feel like I'm a shitty person. And I'm falling love with you, and I feel like I'm cheating on him because of that, which is completely stupid because he's **dead**." Piper honestly tries not to solely focus on the fact that Natalie just confessed to feeling the same way she's been feeling lately, and it's not nearly as hard as she thought it would be as her attention is focused on comforting her friend. Piper waits for her to say something else, but she doesn't, so she gently takes Natalie's hair out of its usual bun so that she can run her fingers through the black tresses. Piper's heart breaks a little at the thought that she's holding Natalie as she cries herself to sleep for a second time since they've known each other. As much as Piper wishes that Natalie would never have to do this again, she knows that that is probably wishful thinking, so she instead promises herself to hold Natalie through these times every time she needs to. (So long as Natalie wants her to.)

 

 **/**

 

"I feel the same way you know."

Natalie's breath hitches, and Piper knew that the other woman woke up about five minutes ago even though she was pretending to still be asleep. Natalie pushes herself up so that she's resting on her right elbow and looking down at Piper who's still lying on her back.

"Not that I'm not extremely relieved, but why didn't you say that last night?" Natalie asks, biting her lip at the end of her question, and Piper knows that that's a sign that the other woman is feeling unsure of the whole thing. Which is a relief, because so is she.

"Because last night was about you, and I did not think that it was the appropriate time to tell you." Piper raises her right hand to tuck a stray piece of Natalie's hair behind her left ear. The other woman leans into the touch, so Piper cups her cheek with her hand instead of bringing it back down. She tilts her hand up slightly so that she can run her thumb over the small scar that runs through her eyebrow, and Natalie closes her eyes at the motion.

"When I was thirteen, my father was showing me how to work on cars, because ours broke down, and he didn't want to take it into a shop. Well, he showed me how to remove the sparkplugs by taking out the first one, and he told me to do the rest of them. I got all of them but the last one out without a problem, but the last one just wouldn't budge, so I leaned forward to get more leverage. So, when it finally gave, the wrench slipped off, and I ended up ramming the end of it into my face, and I didn't think it was that bad until the blood started streaming into my eye." Natalie pauses to smile and chuckle at the memory, "Dad got such an earful from my mother about the whole thing, but he didn't really care. He just told me that he was proud of how tough I was since I didn't cry or freak out when it happened."

"He was right you know? You're the toughest person I know Blue. I don't think anyone else could go through what you have, and still be such an amazing person. You're something else." Piper is still running her thumb over the faded scar when Natalie opens her eyes, and Piper is never not surprised by how dark and thoughtful they are. 

"You're perfect, you know that?"

Piper can't help the tears that start stinging her eyes, or the blush she can feel burning into her cheeks at the compliment.

"'Perfect' huh? Gotta say Blue, that's definitely a first for me. But I uh, I happen to think you're perfect yourself. Which is why I don't really get how you could fancy me, since you're such an amazing person, and I'm just, the nosy reporter who doesn't know when to quit, and that people snub their noses at." Piper didn't exactly mean to voice her insecurities, but now that they're out in the open, she's glad she did, or they would've eaten at her. Natalie doesn't say anything for a long while, but she brings her left hand to rest it on Piper's cheek, mirroring her own position.

"Perfect Piper, you are absolutely perfect to me, and I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks. But they'll be sorry if they ever have the gall to say anything bad about you around me, trust that." Natalie leans forward and places a kiss on her forehead, and Piper suddenly finds it oddly fitting that she'd be the first person to call her perfect, since she's also the first person to make her feel like she's not completely worthless.

 

**//**

 

"Jesus Blue, let me carry something before you cripple yourself." Piper crosses her arms and refuses to take another step until Natalie distributes their weight more evenly. Natalie looks like she's about to argue, but she closes her mouth when Piper raises an eyebrow at her in a silent challenge. The other woman sighs like Nat does whenever Piper tells her it's time for bed.

"Fine." Natalie huffs as she starts digging through her bags and pockets. Natalie hands over a few smaller pistols, four outfits, a rifle, and the ten bottles of water they have with them, and Piper wants to argue that she knows Natalie is still carrying the bulk of the weight, but Natalie just smiles at her, with **that** smile, so Piper settles for rolling her eyes while she crouches down to situate these new items into her own bags. Piper figures that Natalie is done, so when she stands up, she's surprised to see her digging in her pockets again.

"You missing something?" Piper is already reaching for her bag to see if she has something that Natalie actually wants on her own person, but Natalie stops her with a hand touching her own. Piper looks up from her bag and her brain short circuits at seeing a gold band sitting on Natalie's right palm. She doesn't know what to say, because she doesn't really know what this means, so she holds out her right hand, palm up, thinking that perhaps she wants her to carry it. Natalie just smiles this, soft, gentle, fragile thing, that Piper doesn't think she's ever seen before as she reaches for Piper's left hand hanging limply by her side. Piper lets her, and when Natalie looks up from their hands to look into Piper's eyes, Piper nods her head as she tries to keep her breathing at a normal rate. When she nods, Natalie smiles again as she takes off Piper's glove and slides the ring onto her ring finger. Piper thinks to herself that either Nate had smaller fingers for a man, or that she must have man hands because the gold band almost fucking fits her finger perfectly, but she doesn't say any of that out loud. Natalie doesn't say anything, as she stands there, holding Piper's hand, just looking at the gold band that's reflecting the sunlight beating down on them.

Piper doesn't know what to say as they continue to stand there in silence, and she's not sure how long it is before Natalie eventually puts Piper's glove back on for her. Natalie slowly leans forward, giving Piper time to stop her, and gently presses her lips against the other woman's. As a writer, Piper has read many accounts of how kisses are supposed to be like fireworks going off, or like taking a deep breath after almost suffocating, and she always thought that those clichés were exactly that, cliché. But feeling Natalie's lips against her own in what has to be the gentlest kiss recorded in human history, she can't help but critique how those clichés did not do this feeling justice. Natalie pulls back, and she's wearing that dopey smile, and Piper can feel the same one reflecting back from her own face.

"You ready?" Natalie asks, readjusting her bags to their usual spots, and Piper just nods, so they start walking toward Diamond City again. Piper's not sure how far they travel in silence, all she knows is that it's been at least five hours because night fell a while ago. Natalie decides that they should make their campsite next to an overturned rusted out van that way they have a wall to their backs, and Piper doesn't make it a habit to argue with good ideas. They get a small fire going to combat the cool desert temperature, and they're eating iguana bits as Natalie points out shapes in the stars called constellations. Piper has a hard time believing that people used to label themselves as star shapes based on when they were born, or that people gave these coincidental shapes stories, but she knows that Natalie wouldn't lie to her. Natalie tells her that she is a Scorpio, and Piper is a Libra. Piper laughs and tells her that she has no idea what that means.

"I've always wanted to ask you if the stars look any different now than they did back then, but I could never bring myself to for some reason. So I guess I'm asking you now." Piper winces as she stumbles over her words, but she smiles when she hears the other woman laugh.

"Yeah, they do actually. They're way more visible since there's less light sources dulling the contrast. It's nice, actually. A small reminder that not everything was ruined with the bombs being dropped." Natalie rests her head on Piper's right shoulder as she talks, and Piper slides her arm behind the other woman's back to rest her hand on her hip. Piper hums in acknowledgement as she presses a kiss to the top of Natalie's head. They sit like that until their fire starts to die out, and Natalie suggests that they get some rest as she pulls Piper's arm to get her to lay down. Piper never saw herself being so content while laying on the dirt, pressed against the ruined underbelly of a van, in the middle of the Commonwealth, but she also never saw herself meeting someone like Natalie.

"Piper, I uh, just want to say thank you. For, putting up with me, and always being there for me, and seeing me at my really bad times, and still sticking around. I don't know how I'd get through half of this shit without you in my corner to be completely honest." Natalie confesses into the crook of Piper's neck, and Piper tightens her arms around the other woman.

"Thank you for letting me see you at your worst, and for letting me travel with you Blue. I would've never gotten to know you if you had told me to shove off when I first met you. So, thank you for giving me the opportunity." Natalie hums and starts softly flexing her fingers that are resting on Piper's left hip.

"Don't mention it Pipes. I wont' tell everyone what a softy you are." Piper chuckles, recalling a conversation they had what seems like years ago where she said those words to the other woman.

"Good. And I won't tell everyone what a soft you still are." Piper can feel Natalie's smile pressed against her neck.

"Deal."

"Deal."

Natalie's breathing evens out soon after this, and Piper finds herself focusing on the foreign feeling of the ring around her finger, and she finds it oddly comfortable. She reaches for Natalie's left hand that's resting next to her head, and she fingers the ring on the other woman's finger, and she can't believe how incredibly lucky she is to have such an amazing woman love her in the same way she does. Piper doesn't know what's in store for either of them, but she knows that as long as they have each other, that they'll both be able to handle it, and that's the most comforting thought she's had in quite some time. The comfort of that thought, and of the warm body pressing against her own is enough to lull her to sleep with a small content smile on her lips.


End file.
